The present invention relates to a seating system for a vehicle. The present invention also relates to a seating system adaptable for use in a seating application and a cargo storage application.
The following patents and/or patent applications are hereby incorporated by reference: U.S. Pat. No. 6,015,071 titled xe2x80x9cVehicle Storage Dividerxe2x80x9d issued Jan. 18, 2000; U.S. Pat. No. 6,050,202 titled xe2x80x9cStorage Divider Shelfxe2x80x9d issued Apr. 18, 2001; and U.S. Pat. No. 6,199,948 titled xe2x80x9cInterchangeable Module Systemxe2x80x9d issued Mar. 13, 2001.
It is well-known to provide seats in vehicles for accommodating the comfort of vehicle occupants and the spatial requirements for cargo storage. The seats are typically movable in either a horizontal or vertical orientation, or both, for improving the comfort of the vehicle occupants and providing the vehicle operator with proper access to the vehicle controls. Such seats typically include seats positioned in a front portion of the vehicle for an operator and for a front passenger, and additionally include one or more rows of seats for passengers in the rear of the vehicle. With the increasing demand for vehicles having improved cargo storage management systems combined with passenger capacity, while maintaining or reducing overall size, weight and cost of the vehicle, it would be desirable to provide a seating system with reduced complexity, improved cargo storage capacity and improved flexibility in using the available cargo storage space.
Rear seating systems in vehicles typically include a seating portion having a generally horizontal seating portion and a generally horizontal back rest portion that are pivotally connected. Such rear seating systems often provide a variety of pivot, hinge, latch, slide and linkage mechanisms between the seat portion and the backrest portion and between the seat portion and the vehicle floor so that the seat portion and the backrest portion may be folded together in a variety of orientations to improve the cargo storage capacity of the vehicle when the rear seats are unoccupied. It would be desirable to provide a rear seating system adaptable for use in both a seating position and a cargo storage position without the need for numerous and complicated mechanisms for moving the seats in order to improve the ease of operation by a user. It would be further desirable to provide a rear seating system without numerous and complicated mechanisms to reduce manufacturing costs, reduce overall vehicle weight, reduce the number of assembly steps needed to produce the seat and reduce the installation time during vehicle assembly.
When folded to a cargo storage position, the known seating systems typically provide for the back rest portion and the seat portion to be collapsed with the planar portion of the seat or back rest in facing engagement with each other and stored adjacent to a planar portion of the vehicle such as a floor or wall section, which reduces their accessability for serving as cargo storage devices when the seating system is in a cargo storage position. Therefore it would be desirable to provide a seating system where the seat and back rest portions remained accessable for serving as cargo storage devices when the seating system is in the cargo storage position.
Such known folding rear seating systems often have a seat portion and back rest portion formed from a frame designed to hold a cushion, which is usually surrounded by an upholstery material to form a comfortable seat for the occupants. Such seating structures typically provide limited adaptability for use as storage devices when the seats are in a cargo storage position. Therefore it would also be desirable to provide a seating system where the seat and back rest portions provide a variety of alternative storage systems for use when the seat portions are in either a seating position or a cargo storage position.
It would be desirable to provide a system having any one or more of these or other advantageous features.
The present invention relates to a seating and cargo storage system for a vehicle having a seat portion with a front edge and a rear edge, and a back portion with an upper edge and a lower edge, where the rear edge of the seat portion is connected to the lower edge of the back portion. A platform portion of the vehicle is configured to support an underside of the seat portion when the seat assembly is in a seating position and a connection couples the platform to the seat portion to selectively move the seat assembly from the seating position to a cargo storage position. A cargo storage surface is provided on the underside of the seat assembly and is supported above a floor portion of the vehicle by the back portion of the seat assembly when the seat assembly is in the cargo storage position.
The present invention also relates to a seating and cargo storage system for a vehicle having means for moving a seat assembly from an upright seating position to an inverted cargo storage position, means for providing an interchangeable cargo storage surface on an underside of the seat assembly and means for supporting the cargo storage surface in a generally horizontal orientation above a floor portion of the vehicle with a back portion of the seat assembly.
The present invention further relates to a seating and cargo storage system for a rear seat in a vehicle having a seat assembly with an integral, non-articulating seat portion and a back portion and a seat base extending upward from a floor portion of the vehicle and adapted to support an underside of the seat portion. A coupling cooperates between a front portion of the seat base and a front edge of the seat portion to allow the seat assembly to move forward from an upright seating position to an inverted cargo storage position where an upper surface on the back portion of the seat assembly is configured to engage an interior portion of the vehicle to support the seat assembly in the inverted cargo storage position so that the upper surface of the seat base and the underside of the seat portion in the inverted cargo storage position provide a substantially flat cargo storage surface.